Partygate and cost of living crisis led doorstep debates
PARTYGATE and the cost of living crisis loomed large at last week’s local elections as Labour re-took control of Rossendale council with two gains from the Tories.
And there was double joy for Labour leader Alyson Barnes as she was reelected to the council for another four years by winning Goodshaw ward.
Coun Barnes said she was “delighted” by the outcome.
“We won back our two target wards of Irwell and Whitewell,” she said.
“Our share of the vote has gone up this time, and probably would have gone up further if we had stood in all seats.”
Coun Barnes said she felt the Tory vote fell because they were “not doing their job”, whether “locally or nationally”.
“It does feel to me that things are changing,” she told the Free Press.
“We have not experienced a national bounce for a very long time and I do feel there was some of that in there.
“There was also lots of hard work on the ground, which I think makes a massive difference.”
Interim Conservative group leader Coun David Foxcroft said they were “up against a very difficult picture nationally”.
“Labour threw everything into this election with armies of people and lots of shadow ministers coming to the borough,” he said.
“I don’t really think it’s a Labour win; it’s two seats which have changed hands, and when you look at the margins in one of them it’s just six votes.
“If they really hope to regain power nationally they should be doing much better than they are. “We are really just back to the status quo. I would be very cautious to go straight out and say it was a Labour win; the council was already controlled by Labour and it remains controlled by Labour. Seats have changed hands where fights have been really tight and residents just want people to work together.” Coun Foxcroft said his party had put forward proposals that “would have frozen the council tax increase here for the next three years, so they would have reversed this year’s council tax increase in Rossendale” and that they “would also freeze next year’s council tax rise as well.” He confirmed he will be putting his name in the ring for the permanent leadership of the Valley’s Conservative group.
Despite failing to add to their one council seat, Rossendale Green Party said they were “delighted” with the amount of support they garnered across the Valley.
Green councillor Julie Adshead said: “Almost 2,000 people in Rossendale voted for our vision of fairer, greener communities for all residents across the Valley.
“That’s one in every eight people who voted in the elections, and a 400 per cent increase on our performance last year. Across the whole of England and Wales the Party made a net gain of 75 seats taking its total number of councillors to 542.
“People’s disillusionment with our existing politics was particularly evident in Whitewell and Greensclough wards where we polled 20% and 27% respectively and took second place in Greensclough. Green politics is now a permanent feature of life in the Valley and, with all residents now having the opportunity to vote for an alternative to the traditional two parties, local elections across the Valley will never be the same again.”